# How to make a humidor (bandwidth warning; MANY pics)



## cubicdissection (Jan 10, 2010)

*Sorry mods, had no idea where to post this so please move it if appropriate*

Well, I seem to recall a couple people saying it would be nice to see how to make a humidor step by step. I have been planning on making one for a while, and finally cleared the schedule long enough to get started on one...so I figured I'd document it and share with you all.

Planing on lots of detailed pics and explanations, so apologies in advance for being a bandwidth hog. Hey, at least I'm hosting the pics myself!

OK, lets get started! I've been a woodworker for a while, but WaxingMoon showed me the proper first step to building a humidor in a thread a while back...










That done, we head to the lumber pile and check our walnut stock. Since this is my first go at a humidor I don't want to waste any nice exotics. I have a decent stash of walnut I bought off this old farmer for a buck a boardfoot a year or two back. It had been air drying in his barn since the Reagan administration. While it looks pretty crappy now, just wait a bit. Air dried walnut usually turns out darker and richer in tone than kiln dried...we'll see if that holds true.










OK, I pulled a few planks and started measuring. What I'm looking for is a relatively clean one with at least 8"+ of width and around 58 inches of length. The length needs to be a little long so I can trim the ends off...a lot of times you get planer snipe there, causing uneven thickness.

Looks like I found a winner with the top board here that the tape is on. There is one knot in it, but I measured and should be able to work around it.










Next step is to trim it to length, since it's around 72" right now. Off to the chopsaw!










OK, so now our board is the right length, but is still looking pretty nasty. Rough sawn lumber usually has some combination of twist, cup or bow to it. So you have to machine it flat and parallel. We start at the jointer, flattening out one edge.










Since the board is still not surfaced, the edge won't be square, but all we're looking for is straightness right now. Looks like we got it....notice the nice chocolate brown...something tells me this will be a nice plank.










Now that we have a (relatively) straight edge, we can cruise on over to the table saw and rip the board to width. This will give us two (relatively) straight and parallel edges.



















Back to the jointer. Trimmed down, now it's narrow enough to be face jointed on my little old eight incher (that's what she said). We're gonna make repeated runs until the face is perfectly flat. The board starts out looking rough...










We check the board to detrmine which face to joint and get an idea what to expect when we run it through. Generally you want any cupping or bowing to face down.










OK, let's run her through...



















After a few passes we start to see results...


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## cubicdissection (Jan 10, 2010)

A few more passes....










And we're done!










Now that our board is flat on one side, we trundle over to the planer. By planing the opposite side, we enforce the same flatness to the parallel side.



















After it cleans up we start measuring for thickness. I'll be using .750 stock so that's our target. It would be quicker to resaw the board (slicing it lengthwise), but when you do that on a board of this size, you invariably release stored tension in the board, causing it to twist, bow or cup again, which obviates our work up to now. Instead we will continue to take shallow passes on the planer, flipping the board to remove material from both sides evenly and hopefully minimizing any movement in the milling process.










Once we hit .750 thick, we head back to the jointer and square up one edge. We then rip the other edge on the table saw again, enforcing the straightness and squareness of the jointed edge on the other side.

At this point our board is parallel, square and straight on all 4 sides. This is called S4S in woodworker parlance...or Surfaced Four Sides. It's more or less impossible to achieve good results working with wood if you don't perform these steps before anything else.

Now we head to the tale saw. I'm going to crosscut the board into smaller pieces which will be the carcass of the box. Since the board is at this point fairly large and unwieldy, I'm not going to try and cut it to exact dimensions. Instead I will crosscut it about 1/2 inch oversize, then trim it to exact length in a second operation.










First though there is the matter of a nasty little knot in the board. I'm going to cut around it, and if you do it right, you can get mostly uninterrupted grain.










Now that I have my lines down, time to crosscut...










OK, that's got us caught up to the work I did last night. I'll further update the thread as I go.

I'll close the thread with a little preview of the top of the box...all laid out here to check dimensions. The squares are .750 square stock endgrain pieces, .125 thick and individually beveled. Don't ask how long this took


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

cubicdissection said:


> *Sorry mods, had no idea where to post this so please move it if appropriate*


My guess would be in the Cigar Accessory discussion forum. :smile:

Cool pics and that's some great looking stock!


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## tobacmon (May 17, 2007)

Dang guys we have some major talent on this forum. I like your idea Eric --it gives it some flare and shows appreciation for what you enjoy doing. I have 2-left thumbs--- really I do--j/k, Can't hit a lick doing this type of wood work. I guess if I had the tools, space and time I might be able to help cut the wood----


Very nice work Eric, very nice indeed. I look forward to watching the process and the finish product as well!


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## ducman (Feb 6, 2010)

Geat thread! Please keep this level of detail going to completion. UDAMAN!


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## drake.c.w. (Feb 7, 2009)

My dad has been a carpenter (trim & cabinetry) his whole life. This thread is going to give him an boner. Great job.


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## Titans (Jan 31, 2010)

Really cool; I'm excited to watch this box progress!


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## jolyrogger (Jan 7, 2010)

Awesome work so far... Please keep the updates as detailed as possible.. What a Crash course in wood working...


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## WaxingMoon (Aug 13, 2009)

Excellent! Another fan of sawdust & cigar smoke! Great combination!
Nice looking walnut! The top looks fantastic!
I'm glad I could help with the first step! :ss


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## Rubix^3 (Nov 10, 2008)

Very impressive craftmanship. That top is amazing. 
:clap2:


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## cigar loco (Jan 21, 2010)

love the walnut and the pic'.s and your shop and your design, etc. etc.
*GREAT JOB SO FAR!!*


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## vwaaddict (Jan 20, 2010)

This is inspiring me to head to my Uncle's woodshop. He loves a good ole project.


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## Arrows (Jan 14, 2010)

Great work so far! Can't wait to see how the finished results turn out.


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## deep (Mar 13, 2009)

Wow, that is Sweet. Thanks for posting, I can;t wait to see the rest.


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## smelvis (Sep 7, 2009)

Okay enough smoking back to work.


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## cubicdissection (Jan 10, 2010)

*DAY 2*

OK, we got the carcass crosscut. I also prepared the top frame panels, milling the stock in the same manner as the larger carcass panels. They have been crosscut to exact width along with the box carcass. Now it's time to make the angles cuts.

We'll start with the top frame pieces. Since the cut is an across the endgrain diagonal, we will slant the workpiece instead of tilting the blade. The miter gauge I use has positive stops every 5 degrees, so as long as the 90 angle is correct, then I know the 45 is too. Without further ado, we'll make those cuts...










Once complete, we see the top frame dry fit together like this.










Now we need to make the miter cuts for the carcass. This is a different cut, requiring blade tilt. As a rule I never trust indicators on machines...only the results count. Since this is a one shot deal and we don't want to screw it up, I'm going to set the angle and test it on some scrap MDF. Another piece of scrap MDF (an old glue jig actually) is recruited as a poor mans crosscut pusher. We bevel both ends of all four test pieces like so...










OK, tape 'em up and lets check our angle...










Looks good! We pull the miter gauge back out (it was unsafe for such small test pieces) and make the cuts on the carcass.










First error! Phone rang, broke my concentration, and I pushed one piece into the blade, resulting in burn and too deep a cut on a portion of one edge. This will cause an unsightly gap...in that case, looks like we have identified which side will be the bottom. Let's tape the carcass up and check fit.










Not bad. Now to cut the top and bottom panels. Purists will not like the fact that I use ply here, but it's the right thing to do...ply is far more stable than solid wood and will result in longer service life. Baltic birch is the way to go here. We cut two appropriately sized squares...










And measure them to determine the width of the slot which will house them. We're looking or a nice tight fit here...this 1/4 inch ply is actually .228, and fairly uniform which is nice.










Now we cut the slots in the lid frame to hold the ply. Start small and cut both sides, which automatically centers the cut.










Cut and nudge the fence small amounts at a time until you get the exact width you need...










Once all four frame pieces are cut, we can dry fit our lid










Obviously I can't wait to put the lid pieces in to see how it looks....










Same thing for the carcass...start with a single cut, then slowly adjust the fence until you get a nice fit...


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## cubicdissection (Jan 10, 2010)

OK, we're ready to glue up the base. First check the grain continuity....










Using a straightedge for alignment, we tape the pieces together like so...










Flip them over and put in a liberal amount of glue....










Insert the bottom panel, fold them up, and tape the hell out of the final corner:










Check the squareness....










We have a couple minutes to kill here...need to let the glue tack up so the corners won't slide once we clamp the box up. Let's see how that top's gonna look....










About a year ago I managed to mess my shoulder up pretty good at the gym. Pretty lucky that happened, because as a result I found my favorite clamp material - Thera-band; the best non-slip clamp solution available! Let's wrap this sucker up tight and let her sit overnight....










To finish up the day I decided to glue the lid up. Since the frame is taped together, may as well adhere the decorative tiles to the subpanel.










Once that's done (went pretty quick in rows), we glue up the edges of the frame...










We'll tape this frame together...first small strips on the corners. Then we use longer strips all the way around. Painters tape is just a tab bit elastic, which comes in pretty handy here because we stretch it as we apply it, giving a nice disposable clamp.










Wow, look at the time. It's beer thirty! Check in tomorrow for more....


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## tobacmon (May 17, 2007)

Coming along just fine Eric---I look forward to tomorrows lesson---great Job!


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## cubicdissection (Jan 10, 2010)

Well, I have a lot of catching up to do, but first I need some lunch.

Here's a couple teaser pics...



















Oh, and a short video showing the fit.

Humidor Lid Closing


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## Jumes (Jul 29, 2009)

Nice thread Eric. I am interested in those Thera bands. I noticed that they come in an array of strengths, with the red at 2.7 lbs at max up to gold at 11.8 lbs, with several in between. If you were purchasing this just for gluing up this type of thing would you go with the max or is the red all that is needed? Thanks in advance for any advice.

By the way I can't tell you how many times I have wished my 6" jointer was an 8 incher. Unlike other things size can matter. hwell:


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## jaydub13 (Jan 13, 2010)

wow... the level of detail both in the project itself and in the build photos is just amazing.... Thank you so much! This is great!


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## smelvis (Sep 7, 2009)

Great thread and very well done box!
Thanks
Dave


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## LincolnSmokes (Nov 5, 2009)

Eric, an excellent build for sure. Thanks for sharing. You ended up with a nice looking humi!


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## Yawgeh (Aug 17, 2009)

Nice. I'm bad at eyeballing in pictures and I don't think you specified - what are the interior dimensions on that thing?


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## tobacmon (May 17, 2007)

This was a great build and appreciate your walking threw the process Eric--Like the look--ThX!


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## cubicdissection (Jan 10, 2010)

Well, I kinda ran out of steam with the detailed pics. I'll post final pictures at the bottom of this post.

Basically I glued the lid to the carcass, cut the top off, mounted the hinges, lined the inside, laquered/waxed, and made the trays. Had some fun with the tray joinery and tried something new.

Dimensions are 15x12x8 with internal useable space 13x10x6.75.

Still need to make some trays for bead storage...will probably make them out of acrylic on the laser cutter.

OK, heres the final product. I think it turned out pretty good for my first one. Next one will be better...I learned a few things on this one. Will likely make a small cabinet humidor to sit underneath this one eventually.


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## cubicdissection (Jan 10, 2010)

Jumes said:


> Nice thread Eric. I am interested in those Thera bands. I noticed that they come in an array of strengths, with the red at 2.7 lbs at max up to gold at 11.8 lbs, with several in between. If you were purchasing this just for gluing up this type of thing would you go with the max or is the red all that is needed? Thanks in advance for any advice.
> 
> By the way I can't tell you how many times I have wished my 6" jointer was an 8 incher. Unlike other things size can matter. hwell:


Hi Vic,

Not sure what to say about the bands...I just use what I have laying around that the therapist gave me. The stronger one is likely thicker and thus more durable....not like you're gonna end up over clamping, so if I had to guess, I'd say go with that one.

I know what you mean on the Jointer. Hell, now that I have an 8" I want a 12". I picked mine up for a song on craigslist...keep your eyes open and I bet you can find one. Assuming you have a decent tablesaw and planer, it's money very well spent.


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## Padron (Dec 20, 2009)

Now, you need a volunteer to take the finished humidor and do a review on it's functionality. Not just any volunteer will do; it needs to be someone who really appreciates walnut (my new favorite wood). It also needs to be someone with an ample supply of cigars to fill it up. I just ordered and my main humidor is full. :evil:

Seriously, it looks great!


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## LincolnSmokes (Nov 5, 2009)

A great job to say the least, the final product looks great. Enjoy that one brother. A true labor of love!:grouphug:


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## cubicdissection (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks guys! Can't wait to fill her up....I'm thinking it *should* fit all the sticks I have now, which is nice cause half my sticks are in ziplocs.

She's seasoning at the moment with several dishes of water and a buttload of dehydrated beads to make sure it doesn't go over 70%. The wait is killing me...I want to fill it up NOW :smoke:


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## Wild 7EVEN (Nov 7, 2009)

That looks great!! Love the color of the air dried walnut. Good job brother!


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## necrozen (Dec 28, 2009)

Interesting! I've never seen the process before. Thanks for sharing.


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## jolyrogger (Jan 7, 2010)

Great job on the project. Thanks alot for all the detailed instructions, procedures, and pictures you took as you built the box.I love the outcome, the humidor looks spectacular.


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

That really does look great, Eric! An added benefit of your build is certainly security. As thick and beefy as it is, it'd take a platoon of body builders to carry that thing off.


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## KINGLISH (Jul 27, 2009)

Very good job bro!!


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## obleedo (Feb 4, 2010)

Umm thats amazing! Great job man!!!


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